Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits

Tsherin Sherpa Spirits tells the stories of loss, struggle, and empowerment in this thought-provoking and participatory art experience by renowned Himalayan artist Tsherin Sherpa. Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, Sherpa studied Tibetan Buddhist painting with his father from the age of thirteen. In his late 20s, he relocated to California, where he continued his traditional art practice before moving beyond its boundaries to establish his own artistic voice.

Featuring more than 30 paintings, sculptures, and textile works, the exhibition traces the evolution of Sherpa’s Spirits series as it stretches, bends, reconfigures, and repurposes elements from traditional Tibetan art, merging them with modern imagery. Through these transformations, Sherpa contemplates the collisions of culture and identity that displaced people must negotiate. Dislocated from their homes — an experience familiar to the artist and communities all over the world — these figures move from grief and confusion, to courage and self-assurance, to triumph and wisdom. In their multiple manifestations, the “Spirits” reveal the power and endurance of transformation in these works.